Largest Italian ciabatta manufacturer now in Belgian hands

Belgian food group Vandemoortele has bought Italian Lanterna-Agritech, Italy's market leader in frozen focaccia and ciabatta, for an undisclosed fee.

"Fits strategy perfectly"

In 2013, the Italian company managed a 87 million euro turnover, using three factories and 300 employees to bake 80 million kilo of bread per year. "The acquisition fits perfectly into Vandemoortele's growth strategy and will be on top of our previously announced factory investments in Lyon and Poland", Jean Vandemoortele confirmed.

Vandemoortele's 2013 turnover was 1.28 billion euro, with 689 million euro from its bakery division - which is also the company's fastest growing division. Vandemoortele went through some turmoil after it had purchased French bakery manufacturer Panavi, which forced it to sell its soy company Alpro. Since then the company has managed to get back on track, thanks to its profitable bakery division.

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